The Life and Times of Veronica Shih
by Vsquared-k
Summary: AU. Starts Pre-show. In which an unassuming new student inadvertently makes waves at Middleton High School. Is Veronica Shih really all that? Rating due to language.
1. Chapter 1: The New Kid

**Chapter 1: The New Kid**

It was the beginning of another normal day at Middleton High. Students that had been loitering in the halls began filtering into their respective classes after the first bell. Things like "Did you see yesterday's episode of..." and "then he said..." filtered through the school, fading to nothing, when a certain red haired teen hero burst through the front doors of the school, running towards her locker.

"I'm going to be late, and Mr. Barkin's going to kill me!" could almost be heard over the slamming of her locker door and the squeaking of her shoes on the linoleum floor.

Yes. It certainly was another normal day at Middleton High.

Bursting into her first period History class, Kim vaulted over heads and sprung herself off of desks to conveniently land in her chair, smiling and ready for another History class. At least, that's what should have happened, on a regular day.

Instead, she ran into a tall, thin Asian girl who was standing nervously near the entrance of the classroom, turned her fall into a front handspring, and then attempted (and failed) to catch all her books, papers, and writing utensils as they flew across the hall. For what it was worth, what she did catch was more than the typical human being could possibly imagine to reclaim, and that was on a good day. After picking up all of her stuff, she looked around to help the person she had knocked over up off of the floor. The girl Kim knocked over had landed on her butt and was casting her eyes desperately from side to side as if looking for something. Kim looked around and saw a pair of glasses on the floor beside a piece of paper.

"Lost something?" she asked, handing the girl her glasses. The girl smiled, thanking Kim. "No big! It's the least I could do, since I knocked you over! But I'm going to be late, so I'll see you later!" With that, Kim burst into her classroom, vaulted over heads and landed in her seat, ready to learn.

"Possible..."

Barkin. The red head flinched. She hated it when he was the substitute. This would NOT look good on her personal record.

"I see you're late for class," growled the burly man at the front. "Is there a particular reason for that?" He paused, as if waiting for an answer, but when Kim opened her mouth, he plowed on. "This is the first time you've been late this month, so be sure not to get three strikes, or you'll be joining me in detention."

Before Kim could reply, there was a light knock on the door, and the girl Kim had knocked over peeked in. "Hi...Is this History...?" came her shy, tentative voice. Barkin grunted the affirmative, and the hunched girl shuffled in, holding out a note. "I'm new... Veronica Shih? The office said to give this to you."

Having nothing to do until Barkin stopped talking, Kim's History classmates did the best thing to do at the time: judge the new kid. They took in her dark red frumpy sweater, her long black braid, her purple glasses, her withdrawn posture and her insecurity, and decided that, while she was exotic for Middleton, she obviously didn't want to stand out, so there was no reason to let her stand out. The girls saw a fashion victim, and the boys barely saw anything of value. She would be forgotten by lunch time, when there was the inevitable spat between Kim and Bonnie.

"Well, Veronica. You're late," Barkin said bluntly. "Since it's your first day, I'll let you off the hook. But starting tomorrow, know that the three strike rule is in place. No excuses. There's an empty seat beside Possible." Veronica scanned the class to see Kim waving her hand, and waved back shyly. "She can help you get caught up in the coursework later, but for now, get to your seat." The bespectacled girl nodded mutely, blushing, and went to her seat.

Kim leaned over to Veronica as Barkin began teaching, tapping her on the shoulder. "Sorry about earlier, I was in a rush to get to class..." The shy girl shook her head, silently telling Kim that it was ok. "As you can see, he's a bit of a-"

"POSSIBLE!" She looked up to see Barkin grinding his teeth. "Second strike. Make sure you don't get your third." Kim just rolled her eyes at Veronica, and turned back to the front of the class.

A couple minutes later, Veronica felt another tap on her shoulder, and saw Kim smiling warmly at her. When she raised an eyebrow, Kim rolled her eyes again, and pointed at her notebook, where a number was written, followed by:

_Here's my #. Call/beep me, if u want 2 reach me. We need 2 set up a time 2 help u get caught up in this class._

Veronica smiled slightly, jot down the number on her wrist (which was conveniently hidden by her sweater sleeve at all times), then reached over to Kim's notebook.

_Thanks! I'm not from the US, so American History's a little..._

_I noticed that u had an accent!_

_Ya, I'm from Canada... Toronto, actually. You guys all sound a little funny, but I guess that's just me._

_Well, I've been 2 Toronto myself! Didn't have time 2 sight-see tho... Some megalomaniac wanted 2 steal the CN Tower or something, so I had to stop him_

_That was You? OMG! you're Kim! Kim Possible! You were all over CBC News for, like, a month!_

Kim looked up, shaking her head as if to say "No Big!", and with that, both academically minded girls turned back to the front of the room to listen to Barkin stumble his way through the American Civil War.

* * *

_Preview: In the next chapter, Kim meets Shego. I think. Or maybe Veronica meets Ron..._

**A/N:** Hey! So, after reading just about every Kigo story on FF, I've come to the realization that Shego's backstory seems incredibly concrete. I kinda wanna create a different Shego, but the same, so this is my attempt, I guess. Sorry it's short, but I didn't see it going anywhere, and it sounded like it was done for now...

And I'm new to this fanfiction thing, so it'd make my day if ya'll r/r

For the record, Wiki says that chronologically, the episode "Detention" was the first, and it's where Kim meets Shego for the first time. This takes place BEFORE that, and kind of introduces a new character... so I guess you could call it a slight AU.

Also, now we know where Kim got those first two strikes from. Stupid Barkin...


	2. Chapter 2: The Library is my Soulmate

NOTE: Veronica Shih... her last name is pronounced [∫i] (what, you don't know your IPA? Shame on you (kidding!)! Take a Linguistics course, and you're sure to learn that!), and has a homophone in "she". In another universe, her last name would be spelled "Xi", but I spelled it "Shih cause I wanted to.

_Disclaimer: I forgot this last time. I don't care if you sue me (kay, so maybe I do...) BUT I don't own. Kthxbai_

* * *

**Chapter 2: The Library is my Soulmate**

Veronica went on with the rest of her day without much further incident, and by the last bell, word had travelled enough that most freshmen in the "In" knew that there was a new girl, but she really wasn't all that interesting, so why bother caring? In fact, besides the brief introduction (to the teacher, no less) at the front and beginning of every class she was in, Veronica had been all but forgotten. Which, as everyone assumed correctly, was perfectly fine with her.

As always, there was an enormous exception to the rule, being Bonnie's gang of cheerleaders and fashionistas. But because Bonnie never made a move on anyone until it was perfectly legal (aka when there were no teachers around and time to spare), Veronica didn't end up meeting the Middleton High's resident bitch until after her last class.

To Veronica, there wasn't exactly anything she could do about it. Bonnie had cornered her at her locker (which was conveniently beside the bitch's. what a coincidence), and her and her gang of followers proceeded to do what they do best: criticize appearances and rank in the social hierarchy. Veronica didn't even bother giving them the time of day, or acknowledging their existence. After all, she had to hold back, or someone might recognize her. But as Bonnie began criticizing her glasses, for being thick and purple (for GOD'S SAKE!), she started getting a little ticked off.

"Bonnie, leave her alone!"

Bonnie turned, smirking. "Well, Kim. Nice to see you've adopted another stray freak! What, is one not enough for you?" And with that, the gaggle of girly goons and their leader sashayed off to...do whatever a gaggle of girls does in a female bathroom. Veronica turned towards the voice that, admittedly, had saved Bonnie's ever-loving life, and smiled in thanks, slightly confused. What did she mean, 'one not enough'?

Peering from behind the red headed heroine was a tow-headed boy with slightly wrinkled eyebrows. He had made some sort of offended exclamation at Bonnie's back, and so Veronica suddenly understood. He must be the other stray. How convenient, the hero never gives up, does she? Good deeds and all that. But, for sure, Kim didn't seem all that bad, so maybe she'd just give her a chance.

Kim smiled at the pale, Asian girl and gestured with a flick of her head towards the retreating backs of the menaces. "Sorry you had to deal with that on your first day."

Veronica shrugged. "I can handle it. It's not like it hasn't happened before." Kim looked at her quizzically. "I mean, I move around a lot, and... uh..." Think fast! "Do you... Could you show me where the library is?"

Kim nodded slowly, obviously still thinking, but made no move to go anywhere.

"We have a library?" burst out the blonde. Ah, he's a buffoon, too. Exciting. "And weren't we going to make a quick run to Bueno Nacho?" At the boy's last two words, a pink... thing popped out of his cargos and squeaked. The girl recoiled, and somehow, that snapped the hero out of her trance.

"Hey, wanna come with us? It's not too far, and it's on the way to the town library anyway!" Veronica nodded; she wasn't about to forego food for books that she wasn't too interested in, no matter how much she had to catch up in History. At least she was ahead in the other subjects, for the most part. Tagging along with the redhead didn't seem like that bad of an idea, either, especially since it was quite amusing to watch the blonde just about push her out the door. She chuckled inwardly, then followed them at her own leisurely pace, a jog.

* * *

Kim was pretty sure that if they went any faster, they'd reach Mach 10. On foot. Which is entirely impossible, unless a hungry adolescent boy is concerned. Realizing they had left Veronica far behind them, Kim turned around. "By the way, Ron, don't you think you should slow down for the new kid?"

Ron stopped, abruptly, causing, according to Newton's Laws of Motion, Kim to continue moving, headfirst into a gigantic Nacho sign. "What new kid?"

"The...new one," intoned Kim, her hand rubbing the sore lump on her head.

"Is it a lady? 'Cause you know how The Ronman is with the ladies," Ron said, nudging the redhead with his elbow. Kim groaned internally, the last thing she needed was for The Ronman to surface. Externally, however, she just pointed down the street in the direction they had just travelled from. From far behind them, a small figure was running to catch up. "Oh, that new kid."

When Veronica finally caught up, she ended up collapsing and was panting like a dog in the dead of summer. Kim wondered why she wore a sweater when it was so incredibly warm outside, but made no mention of it. Instead, she merely glared at Ron, who had the decency to look sheepish about the whole ordeal.

"So... I'm Ron. Ron Stoppable." He stuck his hand out for a shake, and Veronica took it, using it to haul herself up, and him, yelping, nearly onto the ground.

"V'ronica... Shih... Nice t'meechu..." she gasped out, clearly still out of breath. "So... what's good at this... Bueno... thingy?" Kim flinched, and Ron was shocked. The gall of this new girl that he didn't know existed! She didn't know the wonders of Bueno Nacho? Where had she been all her life?

"You wait here, I'll just get you... I mean, Education is in Order!" And with that, the boy marched into the fast food restaurant, back ramrod straight, head held high.

Veronica and Kim wandered over to one of the outside tables and plopped down. "So how are you liking Middleton?"

"Wha? S'good, I guess... The houses are nice. Haven't really had a chance to be touristy." Veronica looked down at the table and rubbed at a stain on the surface; small talk bothered her because it never really got anywhere. It was just a waste of carbon dioxide and effort, in her mind.

She learned pretty quickly that Kim didn't agree with that, as the redhead kept trying to revive the conversation. By the time Ron returned with a cartload of food for the girls, Kim had successfully learned... next to nothing about Veronica, except that she was bad at small talk and liked to speak in painfully short sentences. Oh, and she was remarkably shy and soft spoken. On the other hand, Veronica had learned about Kim's family, her and Ron's relationship (BFFs since Pre-K!), her "job", and the ins-and-outs of Middleton High.

All this was filed away for later use by the pale girl as she looked warily at the tray Ron placed in front of her. "What... exactly is this?" she asked, poking at once of the steaming pile of cheese, meat and corn-flour.

Ron couldn't answer with his mouth full, so Kim did instead. "A Chicken Quesadilla... It's not too bad." She picked at her salad, content with the fact that she wasn't being forced to eat anything odd.

Veronica stared at the thing, and shrugged, taking a bite. Free food will always be free food, after all. She chewed thoughtfully, and shrugged. It wasn't good, but it wasn't bad either. She didn't think that it warranted the kind of response the boy and his... pink thing were showing, but she could eat it if it was absolutely necessary.

When they finished, Ron left, saying something about zombies and the apocalypse, leaving Kim and Veronica to walk to the library. When they got there, Veronica understood why Ron didn't even seem to think it existed. Veronica felt like she'd found the building equivalent of herself: out of the way, boring, and easily forgettable, but sure to hold secrets inside.

* * *

"So what's your schedule like?" Veronica just pulled it out of her bag and handed it to the other girl instead of answering. Kim read it over, humming and hawing over certain subjects and teachers, then looked up, shocked. "You have PE with me! I didn't even see you today!"

Veronica looked slightly peeved at this. "Don't have my uniform yet... and I thought I'd never have to take Gym again, since I'd already taken most of it back home." Kim looked a little confused. "In Toronto, you only have to take Gym for one year in high school," she explained. "I'd already finished it, so I didn't think I'd need to take it here."

"Nope, you have to take it in every year of high school here." Veronica looked crushed. "Welcome to American High School." Veronica sighed, and resigned herself to her fate. "Anyway, you might need some help catching up, since the term ends at the end of the month..."

Veronica shrugged. "I only really need help with History. The rest of the stuff I've got covered. I only know we burned your White House down 200 years ago." Kim cocked an eyebrow. "Oh, and that World War 2 started in the 30's." The redhead chuckled at that.

"Well, unless some incredibly big sitch happens, I'm pretty free tomorrow night, and my weekend's all free. I could help you get caught up then, and you could always read the textbook... It's pretty useful."

"I'm free...on the weekend? Not tomorrow though, I have a...doctor's appointment in Go City. I'm not even going to school..."

Suddenly, Veronica felt her ankle vibrate, causing her to scowl. Kim looked at her quizzically. "I just remembered I have to be somewhere...I'll see you later? I'll call you for the deets about the weekend!"

Kim nodded as Veronica scooped all her stuff off of the table, leaving Kim inside the incredibly empty library.

* * *

Preview: SHEGO! FINALLY! Oh, and Dr. D, too.

**A/N:** Yes, I promise that you'll see Shego soon. I'm still in the process of character exposition, and...setting up, if you will. I hate how short these chapters are, but oh well. They seem to end at nice places.

R/R if you want, I don't really care all that much :P


	3. Chapter 3: Photosynthesis?

La Disclaim: je ne own pas. And no, that isn't proper French.

* * *

**Chapter 3:**

"Shit, I'm going to be late!" Veronica muttered as she ran into her sparsely decorated studio apartment. "This... Dr. Drakken guy's going to kill me!"

She stripped out of her sweater and jeans, and kicked off her shoes (not necessarily in that order), revealing her skintight green and black jumpsuit. Scowling, she ran over to the mirror, pulled out her braid and shook out her hair, ripped off her glasses, and put in her emerald green contacts, swearing when the contact solution stung her eyes. Rubbing her right eye, she pulled out her sleek black and green palm pilot from her ankle pouch, and checked her messages.

"He's going to be late? HE IS?" She slumped on her bare mattress, and sighed in relief. "Thank God, that would have been unprofessional." She shook her head, grabbed her small travel pack, and checked her swift transformation in the mirror. Perfect.

Sometimes she wondered if her Monochromatia was really such a curse. Yes, it was true that she had lost all skin pigment, leaving her essentially chalk white and unable to tan. But when she wore the right colours, it changed her skin tone to match, which made it easier for her to have her alter-ego in the first place. Not that it was supposed to be an alter-ego... It just happened that way.

She hopped into the round hovercraft her latest employer had provided, plugged in the coordinates, and let autopilot do its job as she lapsed into reminiscing.

She had always been Veronica Shih, that hadn't changed. However, when the comet had hit her dojo when she was 8, her and the other students that early Saturday morning had gotten powers. It was such a shame that her plasma had been green...she hated the colour. When her fellow students decided to form a little band of superheroes and adventurers, she had been pulled in for the ride. The Go Team, they had called themselves, after their preferred form of Martial Arts, Goh Quan (Dog Fist). They had done well for a time, until the law started after them. They'd been branded vigilantes by many countries, and apparently they'd broken the law several times worldwide. By the time she'd been intelligent enough to understand the risk vs. monetary aspect of the hero business (the boys all had money in their families to fall back on, but she didn't) and quit (before she died like two of her teammates had), she and the team were already wanted in 7 countries. All seven had corrupt, oppressive, and evil governments, but they were still seven countries nonetheless. When she had started stealing for kicks, she quickly raised the number to 11. It wasn't all that hard, after all, and she could get away with it, since no one knew that Shego was the quiet little Asian girl she portrayed in her regular life.

Shego was who Veronica had always wanted to be. Confident, snarky, able to speak her mind, and able to strike fear into people's hearts. And she was **finally** able to stand up for herself. She had mastered several styles of wushu before the comet, and had mastered many more afterwards, but her parents had never let her use them unless she had no choice. Being kicked out of her house may have been the best thing that happened to her, because she could work so much easier, without having to worry about sneaking around parental units.

Being a mercenary was sweet. She had all the time in the world to get her school work done, and whenever an assignment rolled around that she felt was worth taking, it was usually challenging and exciting. And it paid well, so she didn't have to worry about money either. Her days as a hero had made it so that she couldn't really make many friends, so it wasn't like she was leaving anything behind when she had finally left her life up North.

Unlike the first time she'd stepped out as a mercenary a little more than a year ago, she was anything but a bundle of nerves over meeting a new employer. This Dr. Drakken seemed like the mad scientist type that wouldn't succeed no matter how hard he tried, which was incredibly different from her previous employers, but the paycheck had been high enough for her to ignore it. She figured a steady job was important for paying expenses, no matter how padded her bank account already was. Dr. Drakken had provided her with a steady job, good pay, and, if he was successful, the small country of her choosing, as long as she was willing to be bodyguard as well as a thief. Those weren't terrible terms... Hell, they were the best terms she'd had on a contract thus far, so she'd been happy to sign over her free time.

Through their email correspondence, Dr. Drakken had all but agreed. Something about the importance of education... she wasn't entirely sure, it had been tl;dr, she knew that much. She was sure more details would be discussed tonight, wherever it would take place...

* * *

Dr. Drakken looked up at his lair's security system, frowning. There was a strange blip on his radar, and he wasn't entirely sure what it was... Oh well, his security would handle it, undoubtedly. He went back to his calculations, since there always seemed to be a minute flaw in his plans. It would be hard enough constructing the nanotick once without incident, he didn't want to have to do it a second time due to faulty calculations.

An unfamiliar voice dragged him from his work, with an angry "What the Hell, Drakken!" and the sound of falling machinery. He looked up from his papers, and saw a remarkably dark scowl on a woman he did not recognize.

"I don't know why you seem so angry," he huffed, "you're the one that broke into my lair uninvited!"

"Uninvited? You HIRED me! How am I uninvited?"

He stopped to think. "I hired someone?" He shook his head, disbelievingly.

Shego then whipped out her Blackberry™ phone, and scrolls to her message from him. "Are you a complete and utter idiot?"

He looked at her... really looked, and huffed again. "Mad scientist, thank you! And you think you're all that, but you're... Green!" His mouth fell open just as a passing fly flew by.

With a flash of green, the fly exploded near the back of Drakken's throat, and he flinched back, coughing. "Doy! Of course I am, blue boy!"

"That's amazing! Just because you're green, I'm inducting you into my evil family! Mwahahahahaha!"

Shego thought for a while, and realized that this really wasn't much of an evil maniacal laughter moment, so... obviously something was wrong with this man. Anything for a steady job, she supposed. And she'd worked for worse.

"So what's on the agenda today, Drakken? What are you paying me to do?"

Drakken thought for a little while, then pointed at a jar of pickles. "I need that opened. I can never get my equations correct without my shot of pickling vinegar, from within a succulent pickled cucumber." Shego raised an eyebrow. "Honest! That's the first thing you have to do for me! Then I need you to go steal this list of things for me from warehouses somewhere... the addresses are on here." He points at a paper on his desk.

Shego nodded. That was much more up her alley, not playing Jar-lid opener. "I'll have this to you by tomorrow evening, only because I have homework and these are all in Ecuador."

He nodded absently, and waved her off, already re-engrossed in his pages of equations. "That's nice, safe travels..."

Shego walked over to the jar, and twisted the cap. Surprisingly, it didn't pop open the way she expected it to. Growling, she twisted it more violently, succeeding in only sloshing the contents within the jar. Her hands glowed in frustration, and (metal expanded, thus causing something amazing;) the jar opened easily. She smirked, inwardly cheering, and put the now-open jar on the table next to her blue employer.

Wait a second... Blue?

"Oh my GOD, you're BLUE! Drakken! You're BLUE! Like, honest to God BLUE!"

He looked up, annoyed. "I thought we established this already, what with you calling me blue boy."

"But... Blue skin!"

"Green skin!"

"..."

"Do you photosynthesize?"

A single plasma blast to the face was his response.

* * *

A/N: So... I'm sure you already all saw that one coming. If you didn't, then... I actually did a good enough job! :)

Drakken's going to be a little different in this too... I'm going to see if I can make him out to be sane-ish. Before Shego came along, he did most of everything himself, so he was pretty competent. With Shego around, he just becomes incredibly laxed and slacker-y, so... I think that's his problem.

Anyways, updates are slower, sorry... I have work and a summer course, so my free time is pretty much nil. And my commute is much less long, since I moved closer... So I don't even have time to write anything during it (it's, like, 10 minutes). I'll update when I can!


	4. Chapter 4: Beanings

**Disclaimer:** This rotisserie chicken may contain fish.

* * *

**Chapter 4**

A couple days later found Veronica knocking on a modern home in North Middleton. She shifted her heavy bag of books, and winced a little; she absolutely hated history, and it didn't help that she knew nothing about any American stuff. And she was seriously tired from Ecuador. She stifled a yawn just as she heard the lock turning, and tried to smile, though her sluggish brain synapses somehow turned it into a weird grimace. A curvy older redhead stood before her, smiling warmly. Veronica noticed that she looked very much like Kim probably would in several decades. She correctly assumed that the woman was Kim's mother.

"Veronica?" She nodded, and tried again to smile. She was genuinely amazed when, this time, her brain cells connected properly, causing a shy smile to spread across her face. "I'm Anne, Kim's mom. Come on in!" Veronica mumbled a thank you, and shuffled into the Possible home as Anne called up to Kim that she had a guest. The soft footfall overhead was quickly followed by Kim poking her head out from a hole in the ceiling.

"Oh! Hey, Veronica! Come on up! We've got a lot to cover, and not long until the term paper... so..." Veronica nodded, understanding. She had a lot of ground to cover, and not a lot of time to do it.

* * *

Veronica groaned, and Kim looked up from where she was lying on her bed, writing her paper. "Do you want to take a break?" The slight Asian just nodded wordlessly from where she was sitting slouched over on the ground, and clutched her head. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I'm going to fail." Kim pursed her lips together in a frown. "I'm going to fail, and it's going to be so horrible that it might even be funny."

Veronica felt Kim's hand rest gently on her shoulder, and she looked up to see the redhead smiling reassuringly at her. "Don't worry, we can get you caught up to speed, all right? You just have to pay attention to the info Wade's put together for you, and do a little research on your own time, and you should be fine." The Asian nodded slightly, but was not reassured in the least. Kim decided to try another tactic.

"Do you want cookies?" Veronica lit up instantly, and Kim had to swallow a laugh at the sparkle in the raven-haired girl's bespectacled eyes at the mention of food. "I'll be right back." The pale girl nodded emphatically, but the smile fell from her face when she heard that Kim expected to see her studying when she returned with their study snacks.

Veronica really didn't know who this Ulysses Grant guy was, and how important he was to the Civil War, nor did she care. She groaned, and let her head fall back onto Kim's bed, shutting her eyes only for a second. Most times, flying her own jet was useful, and fun. Other times, like today, it was really just a nuisance. She'd had to navigate around hurricanes, and it had taken all her energy not to get blown into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean or wreck the jet. She was beyond tired, and she was pretty sure that Mr. Grant would be willing to grant her some sort of mental reprieve by letting her rest for a while. Her sleep-deprived brain even found some weird pun in that, and she snorted weakly before letting go.

* * *

"Hey, Veronica. I'm back with the cookies...?" Kim looked down at the sleeping girl, and sighed. She'd noticed that the girl had been ridiculously tired from the moment she'd seen her earlier that day, but despite that, the girl was making remarkable progress on her work so far. Kim nudged her with her foot, and the girl suddenly jumped up, completely alert. "Cookies... and I took the liberty of grabbing a cup of my dad's insta-coffee for you." There was a nearly imperceptible nod, and a slight smile of thanks. "Not enough sleep last night?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," said Veronica, grabbing the cup of Jo. It was well into the afternoon, but she really didn't care, at this point. She needed the caffeine, even if it was instant crap.

"How was the appointment the other day?"

"Oh..." She'd only gone to Ecuador on her private jet to steal some sort of horridly corrosive radioactive chemical that was being used to create a dangerous nanotick by some maniac bent on world domination. Nothing at all that exciting, she thought... "It was fine. Just, you know, a check up, since I moved and all." Kim nodded, completely understanding. "He said it was standard protocol or something."

"My mom's a doctor, so I know what you mean." Veronica lifted an eyebrow. "Regular checkups are, like, daily in this family, or something." There was a grunt of possible understanding, and Kim reached for another cookie. The other girl just yawned, then took a swig from her steaming mug.

"If you're tired, we can do this another day..."

The Asian girl shook her head, and turned back to the book in front of her. "I can do this. I have to, because the term paper's due soon, and I have to sound at least slightly knowledgeable about this stuff."

And so the rest of the day was spent with shuffling papers, soft questions, snacks and the occasional yawn.

* * *

The next day, Veronica finally got her uniform for gym class, and so she was forced to wear the wretched standard white shirt, complete with the wretched school mascot logo, and navy shorts (that only successfully made her seem paler), and, God forbid, participate in class. Changing had been difficult, since Bonnie was there (and wouldn't shut up about her "totally unglamourously pale skin" and nerdy purple glasses), and she really didn't want to get partially naked with a bunch of strangers she didn't really know, knowing full well that she wouldn't be capable of showing the full extent of her athletic prowess. It would make her stand out, which wasn't something she particularly wanted, at this point.

She did martial arts, after all, and volleyball was really nothing compared to hitting people, or sneaking into (and out of) heavily guarded buildings.

Kim waved her over once she was out of the change room, and asked if she was any good. She just shrugged, and pushed her glasses up. "Not really. I mean, I was never really good at sports..."

Kim looked slightly shocked, and looked her up and down, inspecting her newly exposed limbs. Veronica had the decency to look slightly embarrassed. "No way. Your muscle tone is excellent! There's no way you're not good at the whole sports thing!" Veronica chuckled a little, and pointed at her glasses.

"No depth perception, so... most sports are a no go."

Kim shook her head. "I'd invite you onto the squad, but I'm not sure if that's your place." Veronica was just agreeing with her when shrill sound of the whistle indicated the start of warmup.

* * *

They ended up on different teams for the end-of-class game. She ended up on Bonnie's team, and was more than slightly displeased. Bonnie was much more vocal about being stuck on a team with "the only slightly existent fashion disaster of a new kid", and everyone on her team had laughed, but Veronica didn't really care. She didn't care, because her Blackberry™ was vibrating silently in the hidden pocket on her back, which meant Drakken needed her. He hadn't needed her since Ecuador, so it had to be important. Somehow, she'd have to get out of class.

_SMACK!_

The ball thudded behind her, and Bonnie screeched, "Can you at least keep your head in the game?" What followed could only be categorized as a rant, which only ceased (and turned into angry muttering) when the ball was successfully returned to the other side for their serve. Kim was currently serving for them, and she had the grace to look slightly apologetic for having sparked Bonnie. Veronica was pretty sure that at this rate, she'd end up having a massive headache which would only be solved by sleep.

And she had to get out of there as quickly as possible. Drakken needed to see her, and who knows what was happening?

Kim threw the ball in the air, and, right before she jumped up for the serve, Veronica saw her glance quickly directly at her. She knew it was coming her way again, and she only had a matter of split-seconds to do this right. There was the angle to consider, and team layout... The smack of the heroine's hand on the ball was deafening, and Veronica quickly surveyed her surroundings one more time, checked the trajectory of the ball, and moved to bump it as it flew towards her. The angle had to be just right... The ball bounced off her upper forearm, flew into her nose, and smacked directly into the back of Bonnie's head. The thud of the volleyball on the ground was masked by the thud of Bonnie Rockwaller falling face first, unconscious, onto the dirty linoleum floor. Both teams were absolutely stunned silent.

Kim, on the other side, looked absolutely appalled, and simply stated, "Veronica's nose is bleeding", which in turn had everyone's attention on the red liquid gushing from the new kid's nose. The teacher pointed, and mentioned the nurse, and the Asian left as quickly as possible.

Veronica had only really meant to bloody her nose enough to get out of class and get sent home. Knocking Bonnie out had been a bonus, and she couldn't help but grin evilly.

* * *

"SHEGO!"

Veronica stalked over to Dr. Drakken, scowling her patented Shego scowl. "What do you want, Doctor D?" She looked pointedly around the lair, and sniffed. "And you need to redecorate. Underwater lairs are incredibly overrated, and it makes everything smell musty."

"Who asked you? And why do you have tissue up your nose?" She just shrugged, and waited for him to answer her question. "Anyway, Shego, I need you to go and acquire something for me. Something amazing and groundbreaking... Something so amazing, that it might just eliminate the need for my work entirely!"

"You want me to steal something for you?" He nodded, a smile adorning his blue face. "That shouldn't be too hard."

"The blueprints for this... Dr. Akari's nanotick. I need to check my calculations on his, to make sure I'm right. You see, we're both working on pretty much the same thing, though mine is definitely going to be better. Though I'm not sure where his lair, I mean lab, is, so I thought I'd let you know about it ahead of time."

Veronica seethed. "You made me skip class to tell me that you don't have an assignment for me yet?" He nodded slightly, suddenly realizing that this had probably not been his most brilliant idea. Especially since her hands were glowing slightly.

"I got beaned in the face by a jump serve just for you to tell me that you don't know where I'm going to go next? You made me get a bloody nose for NOTHING?" Drakken gulped, and started to inch backwards. "You have ten seconds to run. I can't guarantee your safety right now."

He turned tail and ran for his life. Soon after, his lab was in shambles, and the hovercraft was leaving for Middleton again.

Veronica had a paper to write.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I have an awesome editor who is ok with editting at odd hours in the day. For that reason, and for being an awesome guy, I say thank you.

I'm tired. I'm going to bed. Hopefully I can get some new chapters of other things out. Also, I think this baby's going to be on pause for a bit, because I have no idea where I'm going with it.

I'm presuming the next place this is going is into the actual series... I'll see what I can do, yeah? BUt I want to focus on Camellia, as well as Unspoken Words, so until then, this baby's updating slower, if only because it's not as creative as the other pieces (aka I have to follow Kim Possible's actual plot and episode order, and I haven't watched the show in way too long.).


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